Use of Green Fs Lasers to Generate a Superhydrophobic Behavior in the Surface of Wind Turbine Blades.

Ice generation on the surface of wind generator blades can affect the performance of the generator in several aspects. It can deteriorate sensor performance, reduce efficiency, and cause mechanical failures. One of the alternatives to minimize these effects is to include passive solutions based on the modification of the blade surfaces, and in particular to generate superhydrophobic behavior.

Highly Regular Hexagonally-Arranged Nanostructures on Ni-W Alloy Tapes upon Irradiation with Ultrashort UV Laser Pulses.

Nickel tungsten alloy tapes (Ni-5 at% W, 10 mm wide, 80 µm thick, biaxially textured) used in second-generation high temperature superconductor (2G-HTS) technology were laser-processed in air with ultraviolet ps-laser pulses (355 nm wavelength, 300 ps pulse duration, 250-800 kHz pulse repetition frequency). By employing optimized surface scan-processing strategies, various laser-generated periodic surface structures were generated on the tapes. Particularly, distinct surface microstructures and nanostructures were formed.

Improved Copper-Epoxy Adhesion by Laser Micro- and Nano-Structuring of Copper Surface for Thermal Applications.

The objective of this work is the enhancement of metal-to-metal bonding to provide high thermal conductivity together with electrical insulation, to be used as heat sinks at room and cryogenic temperatures. High thermal conductive metal (copper) and epoxy resin (Stycast 2850FT) were used in this study, with the latter also providing the required electrical insulation. The copper surface was irradiated with laser to induce micro- and nano-patterned structures that result in an improvement of the adhesion between the epoxy and the copper.